A popular American news magazine has released its annual rankings of the best colleges in the United States.

U.S. News & World Report annually compares more than 1,800 colleges and universities, looking at several factors.

"I encourage parents and students to use the wealth of data and information in Best Colleges to identify schools that suit their specific needs," Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News said in a press release. "In addition to considering factors like location and cost, families should pay close attention to graduation and retention rates. These are important indicators of how well a school supports its students both academically and financially. Getting into a good school means nothing if you cannot graduate."

The best national university is Princeton. It is followed by Harvard. The University of Chicago and Yale are tied for third.

If those colleges aren’t appealing for some reason, the survey also published lists of the best national liberal arts colleges, regional universities, regional colleges and historically black colleges and universities.

One difference between this survey and past surveys is that it takes class size into account for the first time.

"Research has shown that smaller classes foster a productive and positive learning environment," said Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News. "With this new index measure, U.S. News takes fuller advantage of the data schools provide, while still rewarding schools that make an effort to better serve their students with smaller classes."